NatureArt Lab Blog

The Australian Association for Environmental Education was delighted to host Julia Landford's presentation of the powerful learning strategy 'Nature Journaling'. ACT Environmental Educator for 2019, Julia Landford, Founding Director of Nature Art Lab in Canberra shared her expertise and inspiration for nature journaling.

Valerie Kirk spent three weeks as an artist-in-residence at Namadgi National Park exploring concepts of time, impermanence, living in the present and being mindful of the past and future in this awe-inspiring natural landscape. During the residency she studied the granite rocks and plants, documenting the impact of fires, rain and climate change through expressive drawing and weaving “en plein air”. 

The annual NatureArt Lab trip to Montague Island was once again a wonderful experience with immersive opportunities in nature. We watched the breeding colonies of crested terns and little penguins as well as Australian Fur Seals and Long Nose Seals, and spent many hours getting to know the island and its unique characteristics with insightful knowledge of ecologist Chris Davey. This was also a chance to learn about the indigenous history of the island, and to experience the isolation of lighthouse island living with access being fundamentally influenced by sea and weather conditions. Participating artists created studies of flora and fauna on the island, learning about nature journaling and the use of watercolour to create illustrations of birds and other aspects of nature with guidance from illustrator Anna Voytsekhovich and NatureArt Lab director and artist Julia Landford.

I’m lucky to live close enough to Ginninderra Creek to walk there most days. Before the arrival of my little red dog Ruby, a jaunt around the closest five kilometre loop took about 40 minutes. These days it takes more like an hour, but it is definitely my favourite hour of the day.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I’m out in nature my collecting instinct becomes much more pronounced. But I’m not collecting Tupperware containers or floral cushions (although I have been known to like a cushion or two). I’m collecting experiences, special moments and knowledge.

Welcome to the blog for Reflections on Nature. We’ve started it up so that those of you who want to tell a bit more of a story about the natural world and your experiences in it will have the space to do so. Whether you write prose, use a pencil and watercolours, wield a camera, compile note books full  of field notes or write poetry, are a professional artist or a complete beginner, your contribution is more than welcome. As a group, we moderators cover the spectrum of experience and focus and are keen to encourage everyone to post and share. We want to hear from as many different voices as possible. It’s that kind of space.

I have been on twelve other photo tours or workshops in the last eight years and organised a couple myself.  This one stood out not merely for the magic of the rainforest wildlife but also as socially harmonious and stimulating.The highlights for me were seeing giant flying squirrels, bearded pigs, orangutans and sun bears in Sepilok, pig tailed macaques, proboscis monkeys and  a slow loris at the Kinabatangan River and gibbons, hornbills, a clouded leopard and a tarsier in Tabin.  

For the first time in my life I observed more mammal species than reptile species (mammal diversity is often hard to observe), and encountered life-changing experiences like a clouded leopard feeding on a palm civet up on a tree, which I got to capture with my lens after waiting for almost two hours. This blog relates the experiences of Dr Damien Esquerre, co-leader and photography tutor on our twelve day nature photography trip to Sabah, Malaysian Borneo from 2 - 14 May 2019.